STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:27 pmI'd tweak it a bit, to be honest. What if it breaks in the middle of the day and we're back to near-pre-pandemic levels?
Short term (under a week): Suspend service NHV-NWK. Have folks on North side transfer to Metro-North for NYG at New Haven(NHV) and Croton-Harmon(CRT). South side transfers to PATH at NWK or NJ Transit to Hoboken, bus/ferry bridge as needed. LD terminates at ALB/WAS/PHL/NHV. Keystone terminates at PHL. Lake Shore Limited all goes to Boston (no split at ALB).
I like this in theory.
In practice, I don't think Amtrak could pull itself together in a few days to run shuttles down to Albany to Croton-Harmon, but maybe they'd prove me wrong. I wouldn't mind CRT and it would definitely speed up travel time, but if Amtrak turns at POU it can run more frequent shuttles with the same crew. Up to you which one makes more sense.
As for a south side problem, the reason I don't think NWK is feasible at first is because New Jersey Transit is going to be scrambling to find homes for all its NYP-bound trains. Trying to terminate Amtrak there will just cause more congestion while NJT is attempting to annul, terminate at NWK, or funnel their trains through Swift Interlocking to HOB. They'd need time to work out their solution.
STrRedWolf wrote:Medium term (weeks): Suspend regular service NHV/ALB/PHL. Shuttle PHL-NWK, ALB-NYG, NHV-NYG. Continue bus/ferry/PATH bridge. Continue LD termination/reroute.
Solid.
STrRedWolf wrote:Long term (months): Annul Acela BOS-NYP. Run Regional ("Bostonian") service BOS-NYG. Enhanced Empire Service only ALB-NYG. Continue PHL-NWK shuttle, bus/ferry/PATH bridge, LD termination/reroute.
Is your
Bostonian your equivalent to my
Metroliner?
I think we could reopen a limited WAS-NWK line of Regionals and a near-full complement of Acelas by a couple weeks into a long-term shutdown. NJT would have their emergency plan in place, and ideally both agencies would be hard at work with effecting tunnel repair, breaking ground on a north leg of Waterfront, and filling in the canal to add more Hoboken tracks. That leaves space for both Amtrak and NJ Transit to use the NEC Main beyond Swift as a place to reverse their NWK-terminus trains (perhaps at Secaucus.) Add back a few HAR-PHL-NWK
Keystone Service trains while you're at it, bumped up to ten cars apiece; they're already push-pull anyway.
STrRedWolf wrote:BILL CONGRESS AND THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
100% agreed! They can fight it out with New York, New Jersey, MTA, NJT, and the Port Authority later.